1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scanning microscope system including a scanning microscope incorporated with an optical microscope, and, especially, to a scanning microscope system in which observations are made with a scanning microscope after a region to be observed with the scanning microscope is automatically selected with an optical microscope beforehand.
2) Description of the Related Art
An observation technique that carries out time series observation of neurons widely dispersed in a sample is used for analysis of neurons to date. Specifically, the neurons to be observed are extracted among hundreds of neurons dispersed in the sample, observations and experiments are performed as the time passes, and the analysis is performed, based on statistical data obtained through the observations and the experiments. Moreover, there is performed a multipoint time lapse system such that the regions in which the neurons are dispersed in the sample are observed in time series while the regions are moved with a motor-driven stage.
According to a scanning optical microscope disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2824462, a sample multiple-stained with different fluorescent dyes is excited at different wavelengths, and a plurality of emitted fluoresces is detected with a photo detector. According to a disk-rotation confocal microscope is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open NO. 2003-5078, a disk provided with a transmission portion such as a slit pattern is inserted into an optical path in a common microscope, and rotation of the disk results in a confocal effect.
Since neurons are dispersed in a sample when the neurons are observed with a scanning microscope conventionally, it is required to take from a few days to about one week before positions of the neurons are specified, a laser beam source suitable for an observation object is selected, and images of the neurons are acquired. Moreover, since, in the scanning microscope, regions in which there are the neurons are screened by laser beam, the fluorescence intensity of some neurons decreases before they are observed. Such observation is carried out repeatedly for a long time. Accordingly, the main body of the microscope is heated by, for example, the laser beam source of the microscope, thereby being deflected. Since a motor-driven stage is also repeatedly moved during the repeated observation, errors by movements of the motor-driven stage are accumulated, and therefore shifts of observation positions are caused.